This invention relates to plating of long articles such as circular wire or flattened ribbon.
There is currently a need for continuous plating of articles such as wires or ribbons. For example, copper wire is frequently electroplated with tin for assembling into cables. Flattened ribbons of material such as iron-nickel alloy may need to be coated with a layer such as nickel by an electroless operation. Such ribbon, when cut into appropriate sized members, can be used, for example, as the armature of mercury-wetted relays.
Whether an electroless or electroplating operation is employed, the article to be plated is usually provided on a spool and then drawn out into a long trough which includes the desired plating solution. The troughs need to be long (typically 100-200 ft.) so that the article is immersed for a sufficient time to achieve the necessary thickness. The major disadvantage of such apparatus is that they use up a great deal of factory space. It would be more economical if the coating operation could be performed within a more confined space.